Container and method of making the same



May 5, 1942.

F. D. PALMER CONTAINER-AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Jan. 6, 1939 y 4 F; D. PALMER 2,282,207

CONTAINER AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 6, 1959 2 Shets-Sheet2 Patented May 5,1942

UNITED- STATES PATENT "OFFICE CONTAI NER F I w I 4 Frank D. Palmer,Chicago, 111., assignor to Kraft Company, a corporation of DelawareApplication January 6. 1939, Serial No. 249,566

6 Claims (01. 22961) This invention relates to containers of 'baglikeform; to containers made of paper or other sheet material; and tocontainers having moisture and grease-proof characteristics. Thecontainer herein illustrated and described has been particularlydesigned for packaging granular materials or-the like and especially forpackaging materials that are best preserved in a hermetically sealedpackage, such as, for example, grated cheese, which spoils very rapidlyin ordinary pervious containers.

The main objects of the invention are to provide a small-sized containerwhich will be highly impervious to moisture so as to be capable ofefl'ectively preserving deterlorable and other materials which tend tospoil upon exposure to air; to provide such a package which may -beeasily and quicklymade by automatic machinery and of relativelyinexpensive materials so as to be low in cost of production,notwithstanding its lb. The main blank body I is of generally rechighefliciency as a preserver of food and other materials packaged therein;to 'provide a package of the character indicated which will be easy toopen to permit dispensing of the content thereof; and in general, it isthe object of the invention to provide an improved package of thecharacter indicated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood byreference to the following specification and, accompanying drawings (2sheets), wherein there is illustrated a package or container embodying aselected form of the invention.

In the drawings;

Figure l is a perspective view of a blank for forming a containerembodying one form of the invention; 1

Figures 2 to '7, .inclusive, are perspective views, respectively,showing successive steps in the manufactm'e, filling and closing of thecontainer;

Figure 8 is a section on the line 88 of Figure 6;

Figure 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Figure 7; and

Figure 10 is a section similar to Figure 9 but showing a. modifiedconstruction.

Referring now. to the drawings, the completed and closed package isillustrated in Figure 7. As therein shown, the package is ofsatchel-shape. It is formed from a blank of material shaped as shown inFigure 1 and the blank may be of any suitable kind of sheet material,water-proof either because of its own construction or because oftreatment or coating of the material, or it may be of composite formembodying a ply of metal tangular form and it is provided at one endwith a lip or tongue 8.

The blank or body member I is provided with a relatively stiff or hardpaperboard member 3,

which extends beyond one end of the blank i to form a relatively'stiiflip 8 on'the opposite end of the blank to the lip or tongue 8. The pro,-tective cardboard member 3 is suitably creased .orscored as indicated at4 to facilitate bending thereof during the shaping of the package, aswill appear in the following description.

The protective cardboard member 3 may be secured to the main blank bodyI by any suitable adhesive material. In the present instance I prefer toemploy an adhesive with which the en- 'tire blank may becoated on bothsides, the adhesive serving not only to secure certain portionstogether'for forming the package but also to supply or add to theimpervious character of the package. The adhesive coating employed issorbed by the package content.

preferably of a, thermo=plastic nature, so that the foregoingcharacteristics of the adhesive are those of a preferred form ofadhesive material.

However, any of the available adhesives may be employed with goodresults...

The cardboard member 3 issuperposed on the blank i and it may be unitedto the blank by subjecting the desiredareas of the protective member andthe blank to heat and pressure so as to cause the adhesiveto unite thetwo members. Preferably the-protective member 3 is united to the sheetover substantially the entire intermediate area 3a of the protectivemember and in relatively narrow zones extending across the member 3adjacent each end thereof.

nated 'II and II, respectively.

The blank, either of one piece as represented by the member I or acomposite member as represented by the members I and 3, is bent tosubstantially U-shape as shown in Figure 2. Ines-- much as the innermember I is very thin. and

' of the protective member 3, the said folding ofmay be placed on thejoints formed at I2 be-' tween the lip 8 of the liner member and the lip6 of the protective member 3, .the latter parts being subjected to heator pressure or both 'to effect the seal.

By reference to Figure 8, it will be observed that the in-tumed, unitedmarginal portions inasmuch as it is attached to the inside surfaceoperate to space the front and back walls from each other a distanceequal to the thickness of After the blank is bent to U-shape as shown inFigure 2, the opposite side marginal portions 5 of the U-shaped.structure which projects beyond the 'sides of the cardboard member 3'are broughttogether as indicated in Figure 3. As

there'shown, the bottom end portions 2 of the the in-turned marginalportions. It should be is greatly exaggerated so that the spacing effectis correspondingly greatly exaggerated. Such sp cingfis der to insureeffective sealing at the joints I and U-shaped structure are foldedupwardly andlnwardly, a triangular portion (at each end) indicated at 2abeing folded into a plane extending across'the end of the U-shapedstructure and otherportions indicated at 2b, 2b, being folded.

into theform of an accordion pleat between the marginal side portions ofthe member I as indicated in Figure 3.

The marginal side portions are brought together in face-to-face contactas shown in Figure 4 and subjected to the'applicationof sum- -cient heator pressure or both to render the adhesive coating on the contactingsurfaces of the material tacky enough to adhesively unite the saidparts. When the material cools and dries it is found that the margins,thus united are practically inseparable. To finish the ends of the 9,intermediate the oppositely inwardly extending marginal portionsi, thetools or dies II and.

I1 may be provided with centrally located projections -either-of a fixedor resilient character to fit between the oppositely disposed marginalportions, or either or both of the tool members "observed that in thedrawings the thicknessof the material from which thecontainer is made" 1actually occurs is very slight. 'In or- II and Il may embody cushionedelements which will conform to the shape of the surfaces which are to bepressed together. 1

.The above described container when made of suitable moisture-proofmaterial and when sealed closed in the manner. set forth constitutes avery eflicientcontainer for food products which should be kept for anindefinite length of time in the same condition'as to moisture contentas when packaged. Such material as grated'cheese which contains'acertain percentage of moisture may be ,satisfactorily preserved, i. e.prevented from .dry-

container thus formed, the laterally extending;

united marginal portions are folded into flat-' wise position on the endwalls of the container as shown in Figure 5.

When the container is fabricated to the condition shown in Figure 5 itis ready for filling with the material for which the container isdesigned. After it is filled, it is subjected to closing operationswhich are best s'hownin Fig-,-

ures 6 to 9, inclusive.

1 As shown in Figure 6', the end walls of-the container are pressedinwardly between the front andback thereof, this being done as anincident to the bringing together of the vupper edges of the container.The said upper edges are brought completely together with the upper endsof the united marginal side portions 5 located fiatwise between thefront and back of the container (see Figure 8).

The lip portion 6 of the cardboard protective member and the underlyingportion of the member I are then folded to a transverse position asshown in Figures 6, 7 and 13, thereby incidentally causing the saidunderlying'portlon of the member I to be folded into-face-to-facecontact with a portion of the body member I, which extends beyond theother end of the protective member 3. Hence a joint 'I is formed forclosing the top of the container. The lip 8 of the inner blank I maythen be folded upwardly and around the free end of the-lip 6 so as "toprovide a further joint or seal as at 9. Heat or pressure or both ingout in a package of this type and by the same token dry powder materialsmay be effectively preserved in that condition, i. prevented fromabsorbing moisture from the atmosphere, by the bag structure described.

'-'I'he cardboard member 3 extends over the main outside areas of thecontainer and thus protects it and its contents from injury or loss, andthe inward bending of the end walls incident to the closing of thecontainer tends to remove'them from contact with surrounding objects, sothat there is but little if any danger of injuring the vend walls of thecontainer.

It is apparent that thestructure may be embodied in-containers of'a widerange of sizes.

One commercially practical size, especially for the, packaging ofmaterialsof the character already mentigned, embodies a bottom wallmeasuring about three and three-eighths inches long by about 'one andone-half inches wide, and a front wall measuring about two andfive-eighths inches high. The lip element 6 measures about three-eighths inches in width. Thus it will be seen that the container may beembodied in a small-sized package so as to occupy a corre- 1 may beapplied to cement the joints 1 and through the agency of suitable diesor tools desig- As shown in Figure 10, the joint 1 is omitte spondinglysmall amount of space. The satchel shape of the package is of itselfneat and attrac-" 'tive and the ackage is easy to handle, first, be:cause of its relatively small size, and second,- be-' cause. of thelaterally extending flange-like closure structure'which vaifords asecure grip on the package near its upper end, notwithstanding itstapered shape. I Changes in the described structure may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should bedetermined by reference to the following claims,'the

same being construed as broadly as possible, con

sistent with the state of the. art.

-I claim:

1. A container ofthe class described formed ginal portions of said endwalls substantially of a sheet material member folded intermediate itsends so as to provide a bottom wall of predetermined width and front andback walls extending upwardly from opposite edges of said bottom wall,opposite side portions of the memin continuation of the joint betweenthe overlying portions of the latter.

4. A container of the class described formed of a sheet material memberfolded intermediate its ends so as to provide a bottom wall ofpredetermined width and front and back walls extending upwardly fromopposite edges of said bottom wall, opposite side portions of the/memberbeing folded toward and united to each other, said folded side portionsconstituting end walls of the container, and marginal areas of endportions, of the bottom wall corresponding container having uppermarginal portions folded to laterally extending position and one of saidupper marginal portions having a lip'extension refolded outwardly of theother upper marginal portion, and a protective member overlying thefront, back and bottom walls only of said container.

2. A container of the class described formed of a sheet material memberfolded intermediate its ends so as to provide a bottom wall ofpredetermined width and front and back walls extending upwardly fromopposite edges of said bottom wall, opposite side portions of the memberbeing folded toward each other from said front and back walls and havingmarginal portions turned outwardly and brought together with theirinside faces contacting and adhesively united, said folded side portionsconstituting end walls of the container, the upper portions of said endwalls being, tucked between said front and back walls and the latterhav-. ing their upper ends brought together to close the container, thefront and back walls of the container having upper marginal portionsfolded to laterally extending position and one of said upper marginalportions having a lip extension refolded. outwardly of the other uppermarginal portion, and a protective member overlying the front, back andbottom walls and having an end extension interposed between saidrefolded lip extension and the underlying marginal portion 'tosaidunited side portions being tuckedbe tween said outwardly turned marginalportions,

approximately triangular areas of said bottom wall end portions inwardlyof said bottom wall margins being folded upwardly into the planes ofsaid end walls. a

5. The method of packaging which consists in. forming a blank ofimpervious sheet material, coating both sides of the blank withthermoplastic adhesive material, covering one coated surface of theblank with a thin sheet material, superposing over the thin sheet athicker paper sheet to provide a protective support but leavingcontainer end wall forming portions of the impervious sheet blankexposed, forming the composite blank into a rectangular shaped containerwith margins of said end wall forming portions in face to face relation,reactivating said coating on the contacting margins to cause the coatedsurfaces thereof to adhere to each other, charging the container withthe material to;be packaged therein, tucking the end walls of thereceptacle inwardly into the package and bringing the upper portions ofthe protectively supported walls together to close the container, andreactivating the coating on said upper portions to seal the receptacleclosed.

6. The method of packaging which consists in forming a sheet materialblank, covering both of the container, the contacting faces of saidfolded marginal portions being adhesively united to. seal the containerclosed.

. tending upwardly from opposite edges of said bottom wall, oppositeside portions of the mem her being folded toward and united to eachother,

said folded side portions constituting end walls of the container, andmarginal areas of end portions of the bottom wall corresponding to saidunited side portions being tucked between said outwardly turned marginalportions, said tuckedin bottom marginal portions being united to eachother and to the respectively adjacent mar-I one coated surface of theblank with a thin overlying sheet of coextensive area and causing it toadhere thereto, superposing over front, rear, and bottom formingportions of the thin overlying sheet a thicker sheet for protecting andsupporting the assembled blank and thin sheet but leaving end wallforming portions of the assembled blank and thin sheet exposed, formingthe resulting composite structure into a rectangular, open-toppedreceptacle with the margins of said end wall forming portions disposedin face to face contact so as to cause said adhesive coating to unitesaid marginal portions, charging the receptacle with the material to bepackaged therein, tucking end wall portions inwardly into the containerand bringing the front and rear walls together adjacent the top thereofto cause said adhesive coating to seal the receptacle closed.

FRANK D. PALMER.

